1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a digital display camera in a changing environment and an associated method of digital control. It can be applied essentially to cameras moving in a biomedical environment. More specifically, the invention relates to the control of endoscopic color cameras used in hospitals to carry out medical or surgical operations using endoscopy.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Endoscopic cameras are usually constituted by an optoelectrical detection head connected to an endoscope and connected to a control unit, the endoscope being introduced into a patient""s body. A light source, also connected to the endoscope, provides the necessary illumination to observe the scene. The camera provides a color video image to one or more screens located in the operating theater. By means of setting buttons on the front face of the control unit and/or directly on the detection head of the camera, a doctor can access the settings of some parameters of the camera, for example the gain and the balance of the white levels. These settings are done in an analog way and are limited in number, enabling adaptation in varying degrees to the conditions in which the camera is moving.
However, in a changing medium like that of the human body in which there is a multitude of situations in which the surgeon may operating (such as cavities, nature of the tissues, environment, etc.) these settings are quite insufficient to optimize the quality of the image and work under the most efficient conditions. Now it is not possible to give the doctor access to the largest number of parameters. Firstly, he or she is not necessarily a technical specialist in the subject of cameras and therefore does not have full mastery of the influence of each of the parameters. Secondly, playing on a large number of parameters entails the great risk of ultimately putting the camera out of order and not being able to return to the desired configuration.
To overcome this drawback, the present invention proposes to connect the head of the camera to a digital processing cabinet or unit, said processing unit controlling for example one or more screens and at least one keyboard (for example a keyboard located on the front face of the processing unit and a remote control unit). By means of functions pre-recorded in the control unit each enabling the digital setting of a given number of parameters of the camera, the physician, by means of the method of the invention, can access a very large number of parameters while at the same time using only a limited number of input data elements.
More specifically, the invention relates to a method for the digital control of a display camera in a changing environment, the camera comprising a plurality of setting parameters and being constituted especially by an optoelectrical detection head and a processing unit connected to the detection head, the method comprising:
a preliminary learning phase enabling the programming of a pre-set number of digital setting functions recorded in the processing unit, each function enabling the setting of at least one parameter of the camera, as well as a predetermined number of options that are characteristic, inter alia, of a given environment, grouping together a set of said functions, these functions being accessible to a user, either directly or in the form of the options,
when the processing unit is powered on by the user,
a step to initialize the camera enabling especially the setting of the parameters of the camera in a standard configuration,
the monitoring of the data elements entered by the user, these data elements representing the functions and/or options chosen by the user,
the processing of the data elements corresponding directly to setting functions or options chosen by the user in order to carry out the corresponding settings of the camera.
The invention also relates to a digital camera implementing the method according to the invention.
Advantageously, the method according to the invention furthermore comprises a system of customized configuration management enabling the user, during the choice of one or more options forming a customized configuration, to record this configuration. Thus the user, with a minimum number of controls, can obtain settings suited to the environment in which the camera is operating, very easily change a configuration and return, if need be, to a standard configuration. The method according to the invention thus makes it possible to obtain an appreciably better quality of images without increasing the complexity of use of the camera.